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World J Gastrointest Pathophysiol. Mar 22, 2026; 17(1): 113971
Published online Mar 22, 2026. doi: 10.4291/wjgp.v17.i1.113971
Published online Mar 22, 2026. doi: 10.4291/wjgp.v17.i1.113971
Frequency and predictors of fructose malabsorption in patients with functional abdominal pain syndrome: A case-control study
Mayank Agarwal, Venkatesh Vaithiyam, Ravi Teja Reddy, Payila Satya Raghava Aneesh, Prisha Paliwal, Sahil Rahul Jain, Ashok Dalal, Ajay Kumar, Amarender Singh Puri, Sanjeev Sachdeva, Department of Gastroenterology, Govind Ballabh Pant Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, New Delhi 110002, Delhi, India
Author contributions: Agarwal M, Vaithiyam V, and Reddy RT wrote the original draft; Agarwal M, Vaithiyam V, and Sanjeev S contributed to conceptualization, writing, reviewing, and editing; Agarwal M, Dalal A, and Kumar A participated in data interpretation and critical revisions; Reddy RT, Aneesh PSR, Paliwal P, and Jain SR participated in data acquisition and drafting the manuscript; Vaithiyam V, Kumar A, Puri AS, and Sanjeev S performed the final review of the manuscript; all authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The Institutional Ethics Committee of Maulana Azad Medical College and associated hospitals granted ethical approval (No. F.No./11/IEC/MAMC/2016/09) and approved this study, which was conducted in accordance with the ethical guidelines of the 1975 Declaration of Helsinki.
Informed consent statement: All participants provided informed consent.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest in publishing the manuscript.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement – checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement – checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: All data regarding the study are available from the corresponding author in the Department of Gastroenterology, Govind Ballabh Pant Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, and will be provided upon reasonable request.
Corresponding author: Venkatesh Vaithiyam, Assistant Professor, Department of Gastroen
Received: September 9, 2025
Revised: October 6, 2025
Accepted: December 18, 2025
Published online: March 22, 2026
Processing time: 192 Days and 16.6 Hours
Revised: October 6, 2025
Accepted: December 18, 2025
Published online: March 22, 2026
Processing time: 192 Days and 16.6 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: This case-control study was performed to evaluate the frequency of fructose malabsorption (FM) in adult patients with functional abdominal pain syndrome (FAPS) after systematically ruling out small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. We found that FM was significantly more common in patients with FAPS compared to healthy controls. Notably, some patients with FAPS reported fructose-related symptoms even without biochemical evidence of FM, which supports the role of visceral hypersensitivity. These findings highlight the potential advantages of dietary strategies, such as fermentable oligo-, di-, and monosaccharides and polyols restriction, in managing FAPS.